When personal diaries are no longer private

Diaries used to be keepers of personal secrets. Experiences such as intimate moments with loved ones and cursing secret enemies were recorded inside our diaries and anyone who dared to read it would be castigated for violating our privacy.

However, once a private affair, personal experiences have now turned into material for public consumption with the emergence of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where people can spout off about their personal life, allowing others into a once personal space.

Having less privacy does not seem to bother users of social networking sites. Instead, the fact that social networking sites offer a platform for more exposure is what appeals to most.

Bunga Nurmalia, a kindergarten teacher who used to post photos of her kissing her former boyfriend on Facebook said she did not care what people thought of her.

“It’s my life,” she told The Jakarta Post recently. “At the time I did not mind that my friends saw the photos.”

Bunga admitted that some of her friends asked her to delete the photos, which she did not.

“However, just recently I removed the photos because I have a new boyfriend and I do not want him to know what I did,” she said, adding that she now restricted viewer access to most of her photos on Facebook.

Novianty Mantasha, who works at a local airline, said people posting photos of themselves hugging and publicly displaying affection for each other on Facebook was fine as long as only friends saw the pictures.

“I have more than 100 ‘friends’ on Facebook,” she said. “So far, none of them complained about the photos [of me and my boyfriend].”

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At the time I did not mind that my friends saw the photos.

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She added that it was alright to constantly interact through short messages on Facebook (that were publicly viewable) with her boyfriend to express her feelings.

“I have no problem with it and I don’t think many people read my wall [messages],” she said. “If anyone does not like it, they shouldn’t be looking at it or commenting on it.”

Novianty also uses Facebook to post details including her phone numbers, email address and other social networking addresses.

“I don’t think this is a problem because my friends are the only ones who can see the addresses,” she said.

Another social network web site user, Madeline Waminah, said people should not expect much privacy on sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

“It’s called social networking for a reason and sites such as Facebook should be places where people want to share their private lives,” she said via text message.

Madeline said such sites were places for people to express themselves. “I think privacy settings are strange because it makes social networking websites more personal.

“Those seeking privacy should not have any social networking accounts in the first place,” she said.

University of Indonesia psychologist Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono told the Post that people were currently going through a transition period into a norm that was more open.

He said technology contributed to changing norms in the 1900s and 2000s. “The transition is good for those on social networking, but it may not be good for some, depending on which side you are from.”

Research firm InsideFacebook, said the number of Facebook users in Indonesia jumped from 25.7 million in June 2010 to 29.4 million in September, meaning Indonesia had the second-highest number of users after the US. (map)